Friday, 1 November 2013

"Anonymous" hacker group threatens to attack Singapore

18 Singapore government websites taken down simultaneously for “planned maintenance”

More than a dozen Singapore government have been unaccessible as of 3pm today, according to a tip-off received by Tech in Asia. Some reports, however, said that the outage occurred as early as 1.30pm. It was initially unclear why these sites have been brought down, but the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) tweeted at 4.19pm that ”government websites are under planned maintenance and will be back ASAP.”However, the explanation was met with skepticism by internet users.
They pointed out that Singaporeans were not informed about any scheduled
server maintenance beforehand, which is the usual practice. It’s also
unclear why the “maintenance” is held in the afternoon as opposed to
off-peak hours like the middle of the night. They are also doubting the
fact that all sites could be under maintenance simultaneously,
suggesting the possibility of a DDOS attack, which is designed to bring
down a site by overwhelming it with data requests.Furthermore, a spokesperson for the Singapore Police Force, whose website was affected, has “acknowledged the problem” and added that they are investigating it. There was no mention of a server maintenance.read morerelated:

Hackers Hit Finland Government, Singapore NewspaperAnonymous wants Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to change its
Internet regulations. Since June 1, Singapore regulations require sites
that publish news about the state to be licensed. Essentially, news
sites are now regulated the same as other media. Hackers uploaded a
video to YouTube featuring a man in a Guy Fawkes mask.Hackers were busy this week, as both the nation of Finland
and Singapore's largest newspaper have come under attack from cyber
foes. That's just days after Syrian hackers claimed to break into
President Obama's Twitter account and on the heels of news about an
attack on Adobe that affected 38 million accounts.According to Finnish television channel MTV3, the malware was injected into the computer
systems of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the course of
four years. The goal was to intercept communication between the European
Union and Finland. News reports indicate Finland is pointing a finger
at China and Russia as possible suspects in the attack.read more

'Anonymous' hack puts Singapore on alert

Activist group Anonymous has hacked a Singapore newspaper
website over internet freedom in the city-state, where government
agencies are now reportedly on alert for wider cyber attacks.The
website of the pro-government Straits Times was hacked early in the
day by apparent members of the group, which opposes recently introduced
licensing rules for news websites in Singapore on censorship grounds.The
attackers, using the name 'Messiah', took over the blog of a Straits
Times journalist, saying she had distorted 'our words and intentions'
in a report on the group's threat a day earlier to 'wage war' on the
Singapore government.

Singapore
govt on alert after hackers threaten attacksSingaporean government agencies have been put on alert after someone
claiming to be part of the global hacker group Anonymous posted an
online video threatening to hit out at the country's infrastructure.The
Straits Times learnt that the government IT Security Incident Response
Team - set up to coordinate responses to a cyber intrusion - alerted all
government agencies after the video was posted on YouTube on Tuesday,
warning of possible hacks to bring down government websites.When
contacted, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore said: "We are
aware of the video, and the police are investigating the matter."read more

Hacked for the ‘sin’ of synecdoche

Poor Irene Tham. The Straits Times journalist’s only sin seems to
have been a synecdoche. A figure of speech in which “a part is made to
represent the whole or vice versa” (Concise Oxford English Dictionary).
Anonymous had threatened war on Singapore, she wrote. What the group
had actually done was threaten to declare war on the Singapore
government.She omitted that one word, “government”, and the aftershock made headlines from India to America.The Straits Times website was hacked by The Messiah, who claimed the
newspaper was misleading the people and demanded an apology from the
journalist or her resignation.read more

Defiant SPH to take the hacker ‘Anonymous Collective’ head-on

Defiant Singapore
Press Holdings (SPH), which publishes the Straits Times (ST) website
that was hacked yesterday (1 Nov) for its misleading article on the
hacker Anonymous Collective (AC) has refused to budge.A spokesman for SPH said that it “stands by its reports and
reporters” and added “we have filed a police report on the incident, and
the police are investigating the matter”.Later in the day, ST editor Eugene Leow said readers with issues
about ST stories had several channels to voice their concerns, such as
the newspaper’s hotline, letters to the Forum, or the ST Readers’
editor. “So there is really no need to resort to the criminal act of hacking,” Leow said.

A hacker claiming to be part of the Anonymous collective broke into
the Straits Times website today (Nov 1), a day after the group
purportedly posted a YouTube video threatening to attack the Singapore
Government, and promised more to come if a reporter does not apologise
for an article deemed “misleading”.The hacker, who goes by the
moniker “The Messiah”, hacked into the Straits Times website through the
blog of reporter Irene Tham and posted a message under her name with
the headline: “Dear ST: You just got hacked for misleading the people!”

“The Messiah” said he was unhappy that the reporter “chose to
conveniently modify the sentence ‘war against the Singapore Government’
into ‘war against Singapore’”.

A blog from The Straits Times,
Singapore’s most read newspaper, has been cracked this morning by The
Messiah, an individual (or group of individuals) who claims to be from
the Anonymous collective.The breach occurred after the same group put up a YouTube video threatening war with the Singapore government for adopting an internet licensing framework that critics say restricts freedom of information.The Messiah defaced an article written by reporter Irene Tham,
replacing it with a lengthy note saying that she had misrepresented
Anonymous’ message while reporting on the YouTube video. It reads:

(UPDATED 12:49pm, 1 November: Singapore Press Holdings' response)Local publisher Singapore Press Holdings has filed a police report
after The Straits Times website was allegedly hacked into in the early
hours of Friday, by the same person or group responsible for recently
posting a YouTube video threatening Singapore's government.

SPH
said that the paper will stand by its reports and reporters after
Anonymous, an international hacker group, said in a note it posted on
the hacked website that it felt a Straits Times report had misled
readers.Earlier, someone claiming to be part of Anonymous
posted a video on YouTube threatening to disrupt key infrastructure in
Singapore to protest against the government's new online media licensing
rules read more

ST website hacked for ‘misleading the people’

It appears that hacker “The Messiah” has struck again and this time,
the target is a website belonging to Singapore Press Holdings (SPH)
- the Straits Times (ST) [Link].TR Emeritus (TRE) was alerted to the hack this morning (1 Nov) at
about 5:00 am and confirms that the ST website has indeed been hacked,
making it the 5th victim to fall prey to The Messiah, a member of the
Anonymous Collective (AC) group of hackers reportedly based in the
United States.Just this year alone, The Messiah has hacked a total of 5 local websites, namely Sun Ho’s website, City Harvest Church’s website, the PAP Community Foundation website, the Ang Mo Kio Town Council (AMKTC) website and this morning, the ST website.read more

Greetings Irene Tham
& Straitstimes.comI am The Messiah from the Anonymous Collective.
We are a decentralized non-violent resistance movement, which seeks to
restore the rule of law and fight back against the organized criminal
class. We oppose any form of internet censorship among other thingsread more

Straits Times distorts Anonymous’ message, tempting fate

The Straits Times has distorted the original message by Anonymous, the hacker collectiveIn the original YouTube video, Anonymous specifically addressed their threat to the Singapore government. (exact words:) However, in the ST report
that came out after the Anonymous video went viral, the headline was
distorted to be “YouTube video by “Anonymous” hacker group threatens to
attack Singapore”. Attacking Singapore government and attacking Singapore are very different things.ST is tempting fate.related:S’poreans cry out for Yaacob Ibrahim to protect them from Anonymousread more

Straits Times website hacked for misleading article

Techinasia.com, 1 Nov 2013A blog from The Straits Times, Singapore’s most read newspaper, has been
cracked this morning by The Messiah, an individual (or group of
individuals) who claims to be from the Anonymous collectiveThe breach occurred after the same group put up a YouTube video
threatening war with the Singapore government for adopting an internet
licensing framework that critics say restricts freedom of information.

The Messiah defaced an article written by reporter Irene Tham, replacing
it with a lengthy note saying that she had misrepresented Anonymous’
message while reporting on the YouTube video. Full storyPlease note that the hacked ST webpage can still be view at Google cache:

Screenshot of the video purportedly posted online by international
hacker group Anonymous. It threatens to attack Singapore's
infrastructures over the new licensing rules for online news sites

The police are investigating a YouTube video that purportedly showed
an anonymous hacker group threatening to attack Singapore, said the
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) last night.The
video, posted on Oct 29, is claimed to be put up by international hacker
group Anonymous. Showing a person in a Guy Fawkes mask seated at a
table, the video featured a digitised voice-over that threatened to
attack Singapore’s infrastructure due to discontent over the new
licensing scheme for online news sites.

“We demand you reconsider the regulations of your framework or we will be forced to go to war with you,” said the video.

read moreGovernment agencies on alert after hackers
threaten attacksGovernment
agencies have been put on alert after someone claiming to be part of
the global hacker group Anonymous posted an online video threatening to
hit out at the country's infrastructure.The Straits Times learnt that the Government IT Security Incident
Response Team - set up to coordinate responses to a cyber intrusion -
alerted all government agencies after the video was posted on YouTube on
Tuesday, warning of possible hacks to bring down government websitesWhen contacted, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore said:
"We are aware of the video, and the police are investigating the
matter."By Irene Tham Technology Correspondent

Demanding a ST reporter to resign over an
impulsive headline seems trivial for the ‘legion’ that is Anonymous, an
international hacktivist community that has busted child porn syndicates,
white supremacist radio shows and even plans to disarm North Korea of
nuclear weapons by tampering with their government web services. For
those who cheer Messiah’s dastardly deed like how one swoons over a
misunderstood rock singer trashing his guitar, you should note that the
group he claims to belong to has also threatened to wipe Facebook off the face
of the earth. No more status updates! No more Bitstrips! No more spying
on ex-lovers’ photos! We can live without ST’s news, but not without
pictures and videos of our friends’ babies in action.

Our Government and major industries have experienced the wrath and mischief of random hackers before. In 1996,
the Government’s very own website was trespassed and a list of 100 user
IDs of staff from government agencies were exposed. In 2001, Singapore Airlines was hit by a InX of WoH, its website splashed with vulgarities. Even KFC wasn’t spared, not to mention lightweights like the PA site, or AMK Town Council. But
it wasn’t just the ruling party that got smeared, Opposition party SDP
got hit as well, with their site erased and replaced with the words MATURE SEX
in 2003. You didn’t need to write a lengthy manifesto with each
incursion in the past, a simple sign off to stamp your conquest, or hardcore porn would state your intent in most cases.

The Police have been trying to snare the Messiah since he defaced Sun Ho’s website (almost
2 months ago), but the hacker remains at large and appears to be
growing in confidence and swagger, perhaps even plotting to bring down
the SPF homepage as a trophy hack too. Easy pickings for Anonymous,
obviously. They’ve already done it to the FBI and the CIA. Instead
of scaring ST reporters like Irene Tham into checking their bank
accounts every hour, here’s a list of what the Singapore-based
Anon/Messiah should consider doing now for their ‘fellow Singaporeans’
and humanity in general if they want to convince us that they are the
Che Guevaras of our generation, rebels with a cause and not pranksters,
freedom fighters not keyboard terrorists, Robin Hoods not bandits
invading a cowboy town and holding the sheriff hostage in his own home.read more

Video by hacker group threatens to attack S'pore

By Irene ThamA YouTube
video put up by someone claiming to be part of the international hacker
group Anonymous is threatening to bring down key infrastructure in
Singapore in a show of protest against the Government's new licensing
rules imposed on websites here.The video, posted on Oct 29, also
urged Singaporeans to join the protest by dressing in black and red on
November 5 and to black out their Facebook profile pictures for a day.

The
message was delivered on video using an image of Guy Fawkes with his
trademark anonymity mask, saying: "We demand you reconsider the
regulations of your framework or we will be forced to go to war with
you."

Yahoo Newsroom - A screengrab from the video, purportedly uploaded by
"Anonymous", features a masked person speaking in a scrambled voice,
warning of an imminent attack on the government. (Screengrab from video) (UPDATED 8:16pm 31 October 2013. IDA's response added)

A hacker group claiming to be the notorious Anonymous collective has
put up a YouTube video promising that it will declare war on the
Singapore government if it does not stand down from an internet licensing framework that critics have said restricts freedom of speech.The video, which surfaced online two days ago, was removed from
YouTube just minutes after it went viral on Facebook and Twitter today
with over 4,000 shares. The video, however, has been reposted on
Facebook, other channels on YouTube, and various video platforms.The message goes: “the primary objective of our invasion was to
protest the implementation of the internet licensing framework by giving
you a sneak peak of the state of your cyberspace if the ridiculous,
communistic, oppressive and offensive framework gets implemented.”

TRS has just received a private video made by Anonymous declaring 'war' against the Singapore government.In the video it says that The Messiah is
just a single hacker and many more hackers will infiltrate the
Singapore government websites and databases if their demands are not
met. <Video Link: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=656364671075370&comment_id=6755136&...Below is the message attached with the video:
{Twitter} The Messiah @ twitter.com/Th3M3551Aread moreHacker group threatens to attack SingaporeA viral video uploaded by someone claiming to be a member of
international hacker group Anonymous has uploaded a viral video to
protest against the Government's new licensing rules imposed on websites
hereThe video was posted on Oct 29 and threatened to affect Singapore's infrastructure if ignored. The clip also urged locals to join the protest by dressing in black and red on November 5.It also asked facebook users to black out their profile pictures for a day on that date. The video contained a picture of a man in Guy Fawkes mask, and
mentioned that The Messiah, who had previously gained notoriety for
hacking local websites, was a member of their organisation.

However, the video appears to use old footage from a previous video
by Anonymous, with audio that seems to have been edited using a
text-to-speech software.

read moreWhy This Mask?Singapore is in a flutter today as international
hacker group Anonymous is threatening to disrupt key
infrastructure in Singapore to protest against the government's new
online media
licensing rules. Announced via a YouTube video, a person wearing a Guy
Fawkes mask even claimed credit for the work of "The Messiah", a hacker
who had broke into two Singapore government websites recently.However, I'm not here to talk about the threat. Honestly, even if the
Youtube video is legit and Anonymous is successful on it's attack on
government websites...so what? Anonymous is an annoying irritant to
people they attack but hacking into websites isn't going to bring down
any government.

No, what I really want to talk about is the Guy Fawkes mask they keep
wearing! As someone who read and liked Alan Moore's "V For Vendetta", I
really wish Anonymous would stop wearing the mask for their own purpose.
"V For Vendetta" is a great work, and I really do not like the fact
that a hacking group is using it while threatening to do something
illegal

Why Anonymous Collective hacked into ST Online site?The Anonymous Collective, better known as The Messiah, has hacked into
the ST Online site early yesterday morning. They gave the reason for the
hacking as a reaction to a reporter by the name of Irene Tham for
putting up a misleading article on them. This is what the Anonymous
Collective said.'Greetings Irene Tham & Straitstimes.comI am The Messiah from the Anonymous Collective. We are a decentralized
non-violent resistance movement, which seeks to restore the rule of law
and fight back against the organized criminal class. We oppose any form
of internet censorship among other thingsread more

Police investigating Ang Mo Kio Town Council website hackingYahoo Newsroom - A screengrab of the Ang Mo Kio Town Council website's
front page, with the message left by "The Messiah". (Screengrab from AMK
Town Council site)Police
are investigating the compromising of Ang Mo Kio Town Council's
website, www.amktc.org.sg, according to Ang Mo Kio member of parliament
(MP) Ang Hin KeeSpeaking to Yahoo Singapore on
Monday evening, Ang clarified that no personal information was
compromised as all information on the website was public. He nonetheless
called it "malicious", but said the intrusion caused "minimal"
inconvenience as the town council acted quickly to shut the site and
investigate the hacking."Nonetheless, we will ramp up security
to the website," said Ang. "We also regret that the attacker has chosen
to attack an amenity that residents can access."read more

The Messiah' gives his reasons for hacking Sun Ho's site

Yahoo Newsroom - Screen shot of the hacker's Q&A site explaining reasons for hacking Sun Ho's website. (Online Screengrab)A hacker who calls himself "The Messiah", and who hacked into the website of City Harvest Church (CHC) co-founder Sun Ho, has resurfaced with a Q&A siteIn
the site, titled “8 questions with the Messiah”, the hacker — who
revealed that he operates under the umbrella of hacking group "Anonymous
Collective" -- said that Ho's website has very little security. It is
something which he said is “horrifying” as the site is apparently
responsible for the information of over 5,000 churchgoers.“It took us less than 15 minutes to gain access,” he said.read morePolice investigating PAP Community Foundation's website hackingThe PAP Community Foundation website was down on Thursday. (Yahoo screengrab of PCF website)However, The Real Singapore reported that “The Messiah”
left a message on the site, explaining the hacking was motivated by
anger over the case of a nine-month-old baby who suffered second-degree
burns while in the care of a PCF infant care centre.The hacker said he could not accept “any form of child/animal abuse or mishandling”, adding he is “very unhappy” with PCF.He also boasted that it only took him nine minutes to hack into PCF’s website. However, “The Messiah” did not do as much damage as he did previously on Ho’s websiteRelated stories:MSF, police investigate baby scalding incident at PAP childcare centreKong Hee on wife Sun Ho's website hacking: This episode is particularly malicious'The Messiah' gives his reasons for hacking Sun Ho's siteread more

Yahoo Newsroom - One of three pictures of the unnamed six-month-old
infant's burns sustained on his wrist. (Photo from Wendy Foo's Facebook
page)The Ministry of Social and Family development
(MSF) and the police are investigating reports that a six-month-old
baby suffered second-degree burns at the hands of a caregiver at a PAP Community Foundation (PCF) infant care centreAccording
to a Facebook user named Wendy Foo, the unnamed infant, a child of a
friend of hers, was being looked after at the government-run Little Wings childcare centre in Boon Lay on Wednesday when his hands were scalded.Foo's account of the incident, in a post
on her Facebook page, revealed that her friend was initially told by a
caretaker at the centre over the phone that someone had spilled coffee
onto his wrist by accident.read moreKong Hee on wife Sun Ho's website hacking: This episode is particularly maliciousYahoo Newsroom - Singer and co-founder of City Harvest Church Sun Ho
accompanies her husband and church founder Kong Hee to court during the
first tranche of the trial Kong and five others are facing in May this year. (Yahoo file photo)City
Harvest Church founder and senior pastor Kong Hee on Monday evening
condemned the hacking of his wife Ho Yeow Sun's official website,
calling it "particularly malicious".In comments issued through
his lawyers, Kong said the message the hacker left on her site was
"hateful" and "filled with threats and insults" against both him and Ho."I
am also very concerned that the hacker's statements appear to have been
intended to cause readers to influence and prejudge the issues in the
criminal proceedings that are presently ongoing in the Singapore Court,"
he said, referring to the ongoing funds misappropriation trial
involving himself and five other church leaders, one of whom had since
left City Harvest.read more